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CBS has run a factually false and philosophically inane hit piece on RT.

Writing under the headline, “Vladimir Putin’s English-language international mouthpiece”, I knew the story wasn’t going to be anything but more of the same asinine absurdities I have heard time after time.

I wasn’t disappointed.

First of all, Vladimir Putin has no more to do with RT than Queen Elizabeth II has to do with British state-owned broadcaster, BBC.

The piece then went on to say that RT’s broad view is that America is ‘dark and dysfunctional’, the implication being that RT is thoroughly anti-American.

Is that why American legend Larry King has shows on RT?

Is that why award winning American journalist Ed Schultz is the leading news anchor at RT America?

Is that why so many young Americans appear on RT discussing domestic politics from both a left and right wing point of view, without any mention of Russia?

“The U.S. has made a lot of mistakes all over the world… look at Iraq…The country that makes such mistakes do not have the moral right to teach the world”.

Far from being an anti-American statement, her remarks sound very similar to remarks made by the current President of the United States. In fact, part of Donald Trump’s appeal is that he has talked about where America has gone wrong and how he wants to put it right, the exact thing that CBS accuses RT of doing!

CBS then spoke to a former RT employee called Andrei Kovalev who now works for…wait for it…The Moscow Times, an outlet that is anti-government and some would say anti-Russian. The Moscow Times has offices in, surprise, surprise, Moscow!

So well done CBS, you have shown just how free the press is in Russia in a piece attempting to do the opposite.

Mr. Kovalev’s theory is that RT wants to tell Americans that America is as corrupt as Russia in an attempt to break the MSM stereotype that ‘Russia=bad’ and a liberal segment of America=perfect.

This is beyond a simplification, it is a gross untruth.

RT’s programming presents factual reportage of affairs in Russia, America and many other countries, just as any major international news outlet is supposed to do.

During the inauguration coverage Larry King and Ed Schultz were highly complementary towards Barack Obama, one of the most anti-Russian Presidents in American history. I still found their overall coverage balanced, though they did not hide their admiration for the outgoing President, an honesty I respect even though I disagree with the conclusions of the two individuals on this occasion.

RT interviews all people with all opinions not just on American politics but also on global politics. I think this is called free speech and diversity of opinions. I thought America was supposed to celebrate this not condemn it?

Indeed, during last year’s Russian Duma elections, I was on RT talking about the momentum of an opposition party: Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party.

RT is unique in that it has a diversity of opinion which the western media has totally abandoned in favour of agenda driven reportage and one sided analysis.

Just last week on RT’s CrossTalk, extreme neocon David Horowitz was given a platform where he spouted the most anti-multipolar rhetoric imaginable. He claimed that ANYONE who disagreed with him was anti-American or even more oddly, a Communist! He sounded like an old John Bircher from 1955. He personally insulted CrossTalk host Peter Lavelle but was never shut up.

I cannot imagine someone like me, on the traditional conservative, pro-multipolar side of the political spectrum being given so much on-air time let alone personal courtesy on CNN, the BBC or CBS. I’d love to be proved wrong, but I’m not holding my breath.

Sometimes I wonder if RT’s critics have ever actually bothered watching RT? If they have, they are too dishonest to call themselves journalists; if they haven’t, they’re too incompetent to call themselves journalists.

As I say at the end of every article I write about RT, I appear on RT and I do so happily. I am never told what to say nor how to say it. If I were, I wouldn’t go on, just as I wouldn’t go on any organisation’s platform that tried to censor me, cut me off or worse yet, try to give me a script.

With permission, I’d like to film myself going into RT studios next time so people can see that the only decision the staff at RT force me to make is between coffee, tea and water…ground-breaking stuff I know.